264 



science:^ 



[Vol. I., No. 9. 



number of experiments of a special and general na- 

 ture, carried on at bis suggestion in different parts of 

 the country for the purpose of studying the deinands 

 of our chief crops for various fertilizing materials. 

 In a general discussion of the results, he concludes 

 that corn responds but little to nitrogen, being able 

 to gather it's small supply from natural sources, and, 

 for this reason, is not to be regarded as an exhaust- 

 ing, but more nearly a renovating crop. It responds, 

 however, liberally to supplies of mineral fertilizers, 

 phosphoric acid or potash being the dominant under 

 different circumstances, depending upon soil and sea- 

 son. Potatoes have been found to respond uniformly 

 to all the fertilizing ingredients; and they have less 

 capacity than corn forgathering from natural sources. 

 The same is apparently true for turnips. For other 

 crops the number of experiments does not justify 

 , conclusions. Pi'actically the largest average yield for 

 all crops was obtained with the complete fertilizers. 

 Nitrate of soda, and superphosphate, yield less than 

 potash and superphosphate, which is significant of the 

 value of potash, and the propriety of adding more 

 of it to our fertilizers. Nitrate of soda, and potash, 

 proved the least efficient. Separately, the nitrate of 

 soda was rarely useful, the sulphate of lime fre- 

 quently, the muriate of potash very often, and the 

 superphosphates generally. Soils vary widely in their 

 capacity for supplying food to crops, and consequent- 

 ly in their demands for fertilizers; and there are 

 many conditions affecting their action after applica- 

 tion. The only way to iind what a particular soil 

 wants is by careful observation and experiments. , 



Lawes and Gilbert's paper on the sources of nitro- 

 gen in crops, read at the meeting of the American 

 association at Montreal, is appended to Professor At- 

 water's report. After maintaining that there is much 

 more experimental proof of the fact that the soil is 

 the source of nitrogen for all crops than tliat any can 

 be assimilated from the air, a comparison is made be- 

 tween the comparatively recently broken-up soils of 

 America and those of England, which have been long 

 under arable cultivation. Analyses of four soils from 

 the west show a much greater percentage of nitrogen 

 than was found in those at Rothamsted ; or, in gen- 

 eral terms, the surface-soils of our territories are more 

 than twice as rich in nitrogen as the average Roth- 

 amsted soil. In the face of this fact, the diflBculty 

 arises as to why less wheat can be raised upon the 

 rich soils of the north-west than upon the worn-out 

 soils of England. As far as they are informed, these 

 writers attribute this result to vicissitudes of climate, 

 and lack of care in cultivation. 



This conclusion can hardly be considered as satis- 

 factory; and it remains a question worthy of the 

 greatest attention, as also whether these now rich 

 soils are not being impoverished by the present 

 method of cultivation. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



— The gold medal of the Royal astronomical soci- 

 ety has this year been awarded to Dr. Benjamin 

 Apthorp Gould, for his ' Uraiiometria Argentina.' In 

 his address before the society, Feb. 9, on the presen- 

 tation of the medal, the president, Mr. E. J. Stone, 

 lately her Majesty's astroriomer at the Cape of Good 

 Hope, and now the director of the Radcliffe observa- 

 tory at Oxford, made allusion to the number and 

 variety of Dr. Gould's astronomical papers, wjiich 

 treat of alijiost all branches of the science, and es- 



pecially to his reduction of D'Agelet's observations, 

 — a work of considerable extent and of great value. 

 All these were not without their influence in guiding 

 the decision of the council in the award of the medal ; 

 but their attention was chiefly concentrated on Dr.' 

 Gould's direction of the work of the observatory at; 

 Cordoba, in the Argentine Republic. The principal 

 part of this work may be considered an extension of 

 Argelander's scale of magnitudes to all the stars which 

 can be seen by a good eye, without instrumental aid, 

 between ten degrees north declination and the south 

 pole, together with a series of charts exhibiting on a 

 stereographlc projection the positions of all these 

 stars to the sixth magnitude, and a proposed revision 

 of the boundaries of the southern constellations. 

 This was the work first undertaken by Dr. Gould on 

 his arrival at Cordoba, with four assistants, thirteen 

 years ago. Some indication of the magnitude of the. 

 work may be obtained from the fact that the number 

 of estimations made for the formation of the ' Ura- 

 nometria Argentina' exceeded forty-six thousand. 

 Dr. Gould has carefully discussed the results of these 

 estimations of stellar magnitude, and compared them 

 with nearly all the materials which were available for 

 the purpose; and, in particular, he has compared his 

 estimations of the magnitude of the brighter stars, 

 with results obtained from a discussion of the photo- 

 metric observations of the second Herschel and of 

 Seidel. 



The maps published by Dr. Gould are fourteen in 

 number, one of which is a skeleton-map showing the 

 proposed revision of the boundaries of the southern 

 constellations. The materials collected in this ura- 

 nometry are far more complete and accurate than any 

 which previously existed; and Dr. Gould has there- 

 fore been naturally led to discuss their 'bearing on 

 those great questions of the constitution of our 

 stellar universe which offer so fascinating and inex- 

 haustible a field for philosophical speculation. The 

 results which he has obtained are in general accord- 

 ance with those of previous investigators of the sub- 

 ject. It appears to be clearly proved that distance is 

 one of the most important factors in producing dif- 

 ferences of apparent brightness in the stars; but the 

 agreement between the number of stars of different 

 magnitudes, and the number which might be ex- 

 pected if these changes of apparent brightness de- 

 pended solely on distance, is not perfect over any 

 large range of magnitudes. There appears to be a 

 decided preponderance in the number of the brighter 

 stars. It is possible that this preponderance may be 

 partially due to the conventional scale of magnitudes 

 not being a truly photometric scale. Dr. Gould has 

 been led, after a careful discussion of his own obser- 

 vations, to infer that the preponderance of the 

 brighter stars is dvie to the existence of a stellar 

 chister consisting of some four or five hundred stars, 

 of which our own system is supposed to be a member. 



